PICTON.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 184, 3 August 1909, Page 5

PICTON.

(JFROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.}

Monday

■ Shoals of herrings have again made their appearance in the Sounds, and on Thursday last, during a ,high tide, large numbers of them found their way into the lagoon near the Domain bridge/ Messrs Perano and Blake, fishermen, were on the alert;.-and each obtained a fine haul, so good indeed that several tons of fish were, allowed; to escape before the nets could be got ashore. The arrival of the herrings is always heralded by the gannets and seagulls, which come in flocks to the harbor. Flying at a height of from thirty to forty feet over the water the gannet suddenly turns in its. flight and dives for its prey. The splash that it makes as it reaches the water resembles /the dropping of a,shot fromH a big gun. ■ Mr B. R. Lane launched another fine specimen of the. builder's craft from his sheds.on Saturday morning. This boat, which is named Patuki, is 36 feet long, with an Bft. 6in. beam* and is fitted with a 16-h.p. Standard engine. She is built to the order of Mr J. Wall, who recently purchased Mr Morrison's D'Urville Island estate. • i. .'■■■; ■ ■ .; I

Owing to slackness of trade, the steamer Rob Roy is laid up for a time. ' • ■■'■.■'

During the progress of the railway social, already reported by you, Mr Jas. Mclntosn, who has been on the local railway staff for eleven years, was presented by his fellow employees with a handsome gold pendant as a token of the esteem in which he has always been held by them; At the conclusion of the sitting of the S.M. Court to-day, Constable Thompson, Clerk of the Court, said farewell to the Picton Bench and Bar. Mr T. Scott-Smith, S.M., spoke in eulogistic terms of the work. <Jone by Constable Thompson as Clerk of the Court, and congratulated himi on his promotion. Mr C. H. Mills and Mr B. Crompton Smith, representing the legal fraternity, also spoke in a similar strain to his Worship. Constable Thompson, who has been transferred to the Thorndon station, Wellington, suitably replied. Mr Bates's westerly gale, accompanied by heavy rain, reached here last evening about 10 o'clock,, ,and raged with almost unabated fury until mid-day to-day.